


Not Your Charlie

by Shawna Canon (Severely_Lupine)



Category: Life and Death - Stephenie Meyer, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2016-01-11
Packaged: 2018-04-27 19:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 15,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5061076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severely_Lupine/pseuds/Shawna%20Canon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of the few consistent elements of the Twilight multi-verse is Charlie Swan. On the night of Bella's prom and Beau's funeral, the two Charlies switch places and the Cullens on both sides have to figure out what's happening and what to do about it.</p><p>Note: This fic isn't abandoned, just on hold for now. I do plan to finish it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is set immediately after "Twilight" and "Life and Death". So definite spoilers if you haven't read the books.

After the prom, Edward drove Bella home. Since her foot was in a cast, she waited for Edward to come to her side, open the door, and scoop her into his arms. She was tired from all the forced dancing and irritated that Edward kept refusing to change her, but the smell of him and the feel of his strong arms and hard body against her eased the tension from her limbs. All she wanted to do was crawl into bed. Preferably with him next to her, though with all the news rules Charlie had instituted since her “accident” in Phoenix, she knew they couldn’t risk it.

As Edward carried her to the door, Bella noticed that the house was dark. Charlie wasn’t waiting up for her. Which was strange, but welcome. Maybe Edward could sneak inside after all.

He set her down on the porch, waiting beside her as she dug in her purse for her key and unlocked the front door.

“Something’s wrong,” Edward murmured, frowning into the house when she opened the door.

“Maybe he got tired and forgot he was angry at you,” Bella suggested. Her cast and heel click-thumped on the floor of the entryway. “Quick, sneak upstairs before he hears us.”

Edward raised an eyebrow at her as she loudly hobbled a few more steps across the wood floor.

A light came on upstairs. With uneven movements, Charlie came half-way down the stairs. Bella could see him silhouetted in the light from his bedroom. “Who’s there?” he barked.

“It’s okay, Dad,” she answered. “It’s just me.”

There was a long moment of utter silence. Then, in a rough voice Bella had never heard before, he said, “What did you call me?”

Bella glanced at Edward, confused. Sure, she called him Charlie most of the time, but she tried to remember to call him Dad to his face. She’d thought he liked it.

“Something’s wrong,” Edward said again. He was standing beside her now.

Charlie came the rest of the way down the stairs to stand before them. A gasp slipped between Bella’s teeth. Charlie looked awful. His brown hair was mussed like he’d been pulling at it, his eyes were bloodshot, and he was wearing a rumpled black suit that was unbuttoned and looked like he’d been wearing it all day and night, even though Bella was sure she’d never seen the suit before. She definitely hadn’t seen it on him a few hours ago when she left for the prom. As she took this in, she realized one other thing: he was holding his pistol in his right hand. It was pointed at the floor for now, but his expression and stance said that could change at any moment.

“Dad, what happened?” she asked, panicked. “What’s wrong?”

His face blanched and then his eyes got a little wild. “Who are you?”

“Dad, it’s me, Bella. Your daughter.”

Rage flashed in Charlie’s swollen, bloodshot eyes, and Bella heard the gun cock. But then he got ahold of himself and, with a shaking hand, set the gun on the side table, not quite out of reach. “Is this some kinda joke?” he asked in that broken, terrifying voice. “You kids think this is funny? Or did you _want_ to get arrested?”

“Dad, why are you dressed like that? Did someone die?”

Charlie got real still, but he looked intently at Bella, examining her face. “Who are your parents? I don’t know you.” He squinted at Edward. “Don’t know you either, but you remind me of the Cullens.”

Bella’s eyes went wide. “He _reminds_ you of the Cullens? And what do you mean you don’t know me? Dad, you’re freaking me out!”

“Stop calling me that!” Charlie snapped.

“You’re right.” Edward took Bella’s hand and urgently but gently pulled her backward to the front door. “Sorry, Chief Swan. This was all some horribly unfunny joke. We’re very sorry.”

Bella tried to fight Edward’s pull, futilely. “Edward—”

“Just trust me,” he hissed. As soon as they were out the door, Edward picked her up and carried her to the car more quickly than he should have. In seconds, she was buckled in and they were driving away.

“Edward, what are you doing?” she yelled at him. “We can’t just leave! Something’s wrong with Charlie!”

“That’s not who you think it is,” Edward said, his eyes on the road as they sped through and then out of town.

“What do you mean? That’s not Charlie? Someone’s impersonating him? Like a shapeshifter or something?” The idea was not calming her down.

“No,” said Edward. “That’s Charlie. It’s just . . . that’s not _your_ Charlie.”

She demanded he explain that creepy, cryptic statement, but he didn’t say anything else until they arrived at the Cullen home. He parked his car in the garage and carried Bella inside. The others were already gathered in the living room.

When they entered, Edward set Bella on her feet and Carlisle stood up from the couch and walked toward them. “Good evening, Bella,” he said with a nod of greeting. “Edward, is something wrong?”

Edward nodded. “Something’s definitely wrong, although . . . I don’t know what.”

They all took seats, but before Edward could start, Bella blurted, “Something’s wrong with my dad.”

“Charlie?” Carlisle’s smooth brow creased with concern.

Edward explained to his family what had happened.

“ _Now_ will you tell me why we left?” Bella asked.

“Yes,” Edward said calmly. “I could hear his thoughts while you were talking to him. That man—and he _is_ Charlie, somehow—doesn’t have a daughter. He has a son. The name Bella didn’t mean anything to him, but he kept thinking of someone named Beau: his son, who’s just died.”

Everyone was quiet as they processed it, trying to figure out what to make of it. Bella was stunned. How could her dad have changed so quickly? Did she have a brother she’d never heard about and Charlie had gotten word that he’d died? But that didn’t explain why he didn’t recognize her.

Finally, Carlisle said, “We’ll figure out what’s going on, Bella. Don’t worry. For now, Alice, why don’t you help Bella find a bed and a change of clothes? She needs to sleep, and it looks like she’ll be staying with us until this is sorted out.”

Bella wasn’t ready to just hand the problem off and call it a night, but Alice picked her up and carried her upstairs before she could protest.


	2. Chapter 2

Beau sat on the couch with Edythe’s legs draped over his lap, pondering the events of the day. His emotions kept vacillating between amazement ( _Werewolves! Actual werewolves!_ ), worry ( _The werewolves hated them._ ), sadness ( _Why didn’t the werewolves see they could all be friends?_ ) and guilt.

The guilt was the worst, the thing he kept coming back to the most. He knew the kids from school weren’t really sad about him personally, more the idea of one of their own dying. Even the friends he’d made, Jeremy and McKayla and the others, would get over it quickly. They weren’t any of them best buds, and he was pretty sure at least some of them would take it as a chance to get closer to each other. They’d be fine. He worried about his mom, and it had killed him to see her there, hardly able to stand because she thought her son was dead. But at least she had Phil to take care of her. In his mind’s eye, he kept seeing Charlie’s face, so broken and full of grief. Beau kept telling himself Charlie would get over it. Charlie had always lived alone before. And it’s not like he and Beau had been all that close, each always off doing his own thing. Surely Charlie would be fine. Bonnie would take care of him.

Which brought Beau right back to werewolves.

“Do you want to talk about it, Beau?” Jessamine asked from a chair across the room. She looked up from her book.

“Talk about what?” Beau asked.

“Whatever it is that’s got your emotions fluctuating like a strobe light. You’re giving me a headache.”

“Vampires can’t get headaches,” Beau said. He was pretty sure that was true.

“You’re giving me a metaphorical headache.”

Edythe pulled her legs off him and took his hand. “Come on. You want to hunt? Clear your mind? Or we could talk about it. Or we could talk while we hunt.”

A thought crossed Beau’s mind and he frowned slightly, then asked his question before Edythe could prod it out of him. “Would the werewolves get mad if we hunted non-were-wolves? I mean, normal wolves?”

“It wouldn’t break the treaty,” Edythe said, “but we do try to avoid it.” Her phone rang. In an instant, she zipped over to the table where it lay, then picked it up and hesitated before answering. Beau glanced at the clock on the wall. It was too late for most humans to be calling, and all the Cullens were here at home.

 _All of us_ , Beau mentally corrected himself. _I’m one of the Cullens now._ That would take some getting used to. He wasn’t one by marriage—yet—but he’d been adopted already, just like Archie and Jessamine.

Edythe moved her thumb to flip the phone open, but before she could, they heard the buzz of feet almost silently pattering at vampire speed, and Archie appeared at the top of the stairs, his eyes wide. “Wait!” he said. “Carine!” he said more loudly, then ran down to stand beside Edythe. Before the third ring had sounded, Carine had joined them, along with the rest of the Cullens who hadn’t been called but could hear the panic in Archie’s voice.

Worried by the concern on Carine’s face and Archie’s panic, Beau was standing behind Edythe the moment after he thought to go there. Curiously, he looked at the number displayed on the outside of Edythe’s phone and let out a gasp. Archie said what Beau didn’t have to: “It’s Charlie.”

They all looked at each other, panic and worry rising, but Carine’s voice was cool as she said, “You’d better answer it, Edythe.” And then Beau felt his panic subside as Jessamine calmed them all down.

At deliberately slow human speed, Edythe flipped open the phone and said, “Hello?” in a carefully neutral tone.

 Even though the phone wasn’t on speaker, the vampires gathered around Edythe didn’t need it to hear the other side of the conversation. There was a slightly longer than natural pause before Charlie said, “Is Edward there? I need to speak to him.”

It was good to hear Charlie’s voice; Beau hadn’t really thought he ever would again. It was especially good to hear him sounding . . . pretty much fine. Not sad or distraught. He sounded more irritated and kind of angry than anything. Which . . . was really weird.

And why was he asking for someone called Edward? Beau didn’t know any Edwards. Maybe his dad knew one and had dialed the wrong number.

None of the other Cullens had any advice to give Edythe on handling this conversation yet, so she made her voice tighter, sounding more like a grieving girlfriend, and said, “There isn’t an Edward here.”

“This is his phone, isn’t it? I called him at this number a couple hours ago.”

“No, sir. This is my phone.”

The irritation in Charlie’s voice went up a notch. “And who are you?”

“Edythe, Chief Swan. Edythe Cullen.”

“Cullen? How many sisters does Edward have? Look, just tell him to get my daughter home ASAP. He promised he wouldn’t have her out past curfew, and after what happened in Phoenix, that boy is walking a very fine line with me. I expect Bella home within the next half-hour. You tell him that, okay?”

“Okay,” Edythe said helplessly.

Charlie hung up, Edythe set the phone down, and Beau felt his panic start to rise again, despite Jessamine’s efforts.

“Edward?” said Royal.

“Bella?” said Archie.

“Is it possible,” Earnest said carefully, “that Charlie might be having some sort of mental breakdown?”

Eleanor, her arms crossed in a casual way that showed off her impressive biceps, said, “Archie’s the expert on mental instability, apparently. What do you think, Arch?”

Archie ignored the tease. “I think that we have half an hour to do something before Charlie calls up his friends the werewolves to start hunting down a Cullen who doesn’t exist.”

Edythe shook her head. “They’ll know as well as we do that he doesn’t have a daughter and so we couldn’t have kidnapped her.”

Jessamine put her arm around Archie’s waist, and he relaxed a little. “But they’ll recognize he’s losing it, they’ll know it’s our fault, and they might play along just to get back at us for it.”

Carine had a finger to her mouth in a thoughtful gesture. “This is a very strange situation. Beau, what do you think?”

Beau scratched his neck nervously. It sounded kinda like nails on a chalkboard, so he stopped. “He mentioned what happened in Phoenix, but he can’t know what really happened because we covered it up. And I don’t think he’d talk about my death like that, so casually. Maybe he thinks something else happened? Maybe . . . I don’t know . . . maybe he convinced himself something else happened?”

“It’s possible,” said Carine. “The mind is a powerful thing, and so is grief.”

Beau thought about it some more. He didn’t like the idea that his dad had gone crazy because of him. If that was true, maybe it would be better to just tell him the truth. Surely that couldn’t be worse than this. They could tell him and then just keep it hidden from the Volturi.

That thought gave him another idea. “Are there any vampires with the ability to change people’s memories? Erase what’s there and plant something else? Maybe that’s where all those old legends came from about vampires doing that sort of thing.”

“There are none that I know of, although such an ability would not be unbelievable,” said Carine.

“So what are we gonna do?” asked Eleanor, ready for action as usual.

“Earnest and I will go talk to him,” Carine said. “Edythe, I’d like you to come too. It would be helpful to know what’s going on in Charlie’s mind. And Jessamine, if you think you’ll be all right. He might need to be kept calm.” The girls nodded. “The rest of you, stay here and stay alert.”

“I can’t just stay here!” Beau protested. “If my dad’s going crazy, I have to help him.”

“And what part of eating him constitutes helping him?” Royal asked.

That brought Beau up short. “I—I wouldn’t. I can control myself. I won’t go inside.”

Carine put her hand on his shoulder. “Stay here, Beau. We’ll do what we can.”

And then the four of them were gone, and Beau was left thinking about how maybe he’d been wrong about his dad’s emotional fortitude. 


	3. Chapter 3

Edythe didn’t think she’d be standing here again, or at least not so soon. Breathing deep, she filled her nose and lungs with the scent of Beau—his human scent that was still all over this place. He smelled terrific as a vampire, of course, but no longer utterly mouthwatering. Now that she knew no harm could come of it, she savored the aroma and swallowed down the saliva-like venom it brought to her mouth.

Jessamine chuckled. _I know it’s not what you wanted_ , she thought at Edythe, _but I’m real glad he doesn’t smell like that anymore. I don’t know how much more of it I could have taken before I lost it._

But Beau’s wasn’t the only scent that Edythe could detect. It was the strongest due to its sheer potency, but once she stopped to identify the others, she sucked in another, startled breath.

“Another one,” said Earnest. “Not the tracker or her friends.”

“Recent?” Edythe wondered aloud.

“Doesn’t smell like it, but it has to be,” Jessamine said with a hint of a growl.

“It’s been masked,” Carine added in a low voice.

That conversation would have to wait. The door of the Swan residence opened to reveal an irritable Chief Swan. “You’re not Bella,” he noted in a hard tone.

“No,” Carine agreed. “Can we come inside?”

He took in the four vampires on his doorstep. “Do I know you?”

Confusion flashed across Carine’s face, but she hid it quickly. “We’ve met, Chief Swan. I’m Dr. Cullen.”

“I’ve met Dr. Cullen,” Charlie said, his voice and eyes flat and unimpressed. “He’s a man.”

As he said it, Edythe saw a face in Charlie’s mind: a blond man in a white doctor’s jacket. Pale and attractive. Golden eyes. Definitely a vampire. The man even bore a resemblance to Carine, as if he could have been her brother.

Carine saw the look of interest and surprise on Edythe’s face, but they couldn’t talk in front of Charlie, so Carine pressed on. “I’m Dr. Carine Cullen. This is my husband, Earnest, and two of our daughters, Edythe and Jessamine.”

Charlie crossed his arms and leaned against the door. “I thought there were only seven Cullens.”

“Not all of us like to . . . socialize,” Carine said, skirting the issue of their number.

Charlie sighed. “What does this have to do with Bella? Do you know where she and Edward are? I’m about to grab my shotgun and go looking for them.”

With a miniscule nod from Carine, Jessamine’s focus intensified on Charlie, and he visibly relaxed.

“I know it’s late,” Carine tried again, “but would you mind if we came in and had a chat while you wait for Bella?”

It only took a moment for Charlie to decide to move out of the doorway. “Yeah, all right. Why not?”

The inside of the house was just as Edythe had last seen it, except for the dirty dishes, take-out boxes, and empty beer cans in the kitchen. But the lights were only on in the living room, so that’s where they went. Charlie sat in his usual chair and all four Cullens fit themselves on the couch. The smell of the strange vampire in here was faint, but Edythe could still detect it.

“You sure look like the Cullens.” Charlie’s irritation almost made it sound like an accusation. “What are you, relatives from out of town?”

“Er, something like that,” said Carine.

Earnest leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “Why don’t you tell us about Bella. She sounds lovely.”

Charlie was still frowning at them as he answered. “She is. Been living with her mother most of her life but now she’s staying with me. I just got her back. Then she takes up with Edward and suddenly she’s running off to Phoenix on her own and almost gets herself killed.”

Edythe felt Earnest and Jessamine tense along with her. The story sounded a little too familiar, with a couple of notable differences. As Charlie had spoken, Edythe saw a face in his thoughts: a pretty girl with brown hair and brown eyes. It was a very clear image, fresh and long-standing, not something Edythe would expect from a hallucination.

“Do you have a picture of her?” Earnest asked.

With a grunt, Charlie got out of his chair and took a framed photo off the wall. “Sure. Here’s one of us fishing when she was young . . .” He trailed off as his eyes fell on the photo. “Wait, who’s this kid? What happened to the photo of me and Bella?”

“That’s your son, Beau,” Edythe said. She’d seen the photo before.

“Son?” Charlie shook his head. But he looked again at the photo. He paled and his knees went weak, but he made it back to his chair. “He has Renee’s eyes.”

“Yes,” Carine said gently. “Don’t you remember?”

Charlie tossed the photo aside. “No, I don’t remember! I don’t have a son! That’s gotta be some kind of photoshop or whatever. I don’t know who you people are or what your game is, but I’m done with it. I’m gonna go find my daughter.” He turned to leave the room.

Before he’d taken two steps, Carine was behind him with a needle in his neck. Her arm was around him, holding him still, as she depressed the plunger. Then he sagged, unconscious, in her arms. She handed the empty syringe to Earnest and picked Charlie up like a small child. “I’ll lay him in his bed. He’ll wake up in the morning, after we’ve had some more time to figure this out.”

When they got back home and joined the others, Carine relayed what had happened with Charlie.

“He doesn’t remember me at all?” Beau said. “How is that possible?”

“He’s absolutely convinced he has a daughter, not a son. But I don’t think it’s just a delusion.” Edythe found a piece of paper and a pencil and sketched the face of the girl she’d seen. “I saw this girl clearly in his mind when he talked about her.”

The Cullens took turns examining the picture. “There’s a resemblance,” said Archie, looking from it to Beau. “She could be Beau’s sister.”

Edythe nodded. “That’s not all. When Carine introduced herself and Charlie said Dr. Cullen was a man, I saw this face.” She sketched the face of the vampire she’d seen.

Carine took the picture, looking at it closely. “He looks a bit like my father when he was young,” she said in amazement.

Earnest put a hand on her waist. “He looks more than a bit like you, dear.”

“And he’s clearly a vampire,” said Edythe. “I couldn’t convey the color with a pencil drawing, but his eyes were gold. Isn’t it strange for Charlie’s hallucination to invent someone so similar to you and yet so needlessly different?”

“Charlie’s not an imaginative person,” Beau said. “That doesn’t seem like something his brain would do.”

“But if not that, then what?” Archie asked.

“There was something else,” Edythe said. She eyed Beau before continuing. “We caught the scent of a strange vampire at Charlie’s home.”

Beau’s red eyes flew wide open. “What?!”

“Easy, Beau,” said Carine. “If the vampire had meant to kill him, he’d already be dead.”

“Yeah, super comforting. Thanks.”

Edythe took his hand. “It wasn’t Joss or Victor or Lauren, but we didn’t smell it the last time we were in your house. It wasn’t very strong, which means the vampire was probably masking their scent somehow.”

“But who was it?” Beau demanded. “Why were they there? What would they want with Charlie?”

None of them had an immediate answer.

Carine straightened. “Royal and Eleanor, go keep an eye on Charlie. Don’t let him see you, but don’t let him out of your sight. Archie and Jessamine, patrol the area, see if you can find anything. I’ll make some calls.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I've got a few more chapters written and hopefully will be able to keep updating regularly now. My goal is one chapter a day. I don't know where this is going or how long it'll be by the time it's done. Thanks for reading. :-)

Only after he could hear the steady breathing that he knew meant Bella was asleep did Edward tell the others about the vampire scent he’d picked up at her home. Bella was already frightened; there was no need to frighten her further.

“Are you certain you didn’t recognize it?” Carlisle asked.

Edward nodded.

Carlisle stroked his chin with his index finger in thought. “A vampire who would enter a human’s home but not kill him. There aren’t many who fit that description, and most I know of are in this room.”

Edward heard Emmett’s aborted consideration of making a joke which he wisely didn’t voice.

“The vampire probably came looking for Bella,” Rosalie said.

“Rosalie,” Carlisle said with unconvincing reproof.

She may have been the only one who said it, but Edward knew she wasn’t the only one thinking it. “Look,” he said, “I’m not saying Bella’s not a magnet for trouble, but that doesn’t mean it’s her fault our kind keep zeroing in on her.”

“Yeah,” said Alice. “You know how good she smells, Rosalie. We all do.”

“So you agree it’s her fault.”

“That’s enough,” Carlisle said wearily. “Rosalie, you know Bella can’t help how she smells. Nor do we have any proof that this vampire came looking for her.”

Rosalie scoffed and folded her arms over her chest but didn’t say any more.

“What do we do?” asked Esme.

“Edward, stay here with Bella,” Carlisle said, since he knew Edward would do that anyway. “Alice and Jasper, go to Bella’s house and keep an eye on Charlie. If the vampire didn’t kill him already, I doubt there’s a real danger, but best not to assume. The rest of us will take a look around the area and see what we can find out.”

They were gone within the minute, and Edward silently crept up to the room where Bella slept. Her scent permeated the air in the room, agony and bliss. He could see the lovely curves of her body under the sheets, as enticing and forbidden as her blood. He could have both, if he wanted. Right now. She couldn’t stop him, and there was no one else around to stop him or raise an alarm. She was totally in his power. He could take her, body and blood, before she even realized what was happening, and she’d be dead by the time it was over.

A very large part of him wanted to do just that.

It was a constant temptation, present every moment he was with her and most of the ones when he wasn’t. He tried to warn her, but she wouldn’t listen. She was naïve and foolish and he loved her.

She’d asked him to change her. The thought repulsed him. That would be worse than taking her. Surely even rape and murder—unforgivable and evil as those things might be—would be better than destroying her soul. Wouldn’t it?

But if some other vampire did it . . . If James had bitten her earlier, before Edward had had time to reverse the change . . . It wasn’t as if Edward would have stopped loving her. He knew that nothing could make him stop loving her. Not even if she were a soulless monster like him.

In her sleep, she breathed his name. His heart ached with love for her. He sat still as a statue, watching her, and wondered how this thing between them could end in anything but pain.


	5. Chapter 5

Beau could tell it was going to take some time to get used to this whole _not sleeping ever_ thing. He hadn’t felt sleepy since his eyes turned red, but some part of him still kept expecting to conk out at any moment. It was three a.m. Edythe and he had watched all the late night shows and had moved into infomercial territory. Watching ads for food mixers he couldn’t use and exercise tapes he didn’t need was not doing much to distract him from his worry.

“We could search the woods,” he suggested. “There can’t be many humans out at this hour, and even if there are, you saw that I can control myself.”

Edythe put her hand on his where it rested on his thigh and laced her fingers through his. “It’s not worth risking if we don’t have to. If there’s anything to find out there, Archie and Jessamine will find it.”

He knew she was probably right. Besides, what Beau really wanted to do was run home and check on his dad. He reminded himself that was an even worse idea and Royal and Eleanor wouldn’t let anything happen to Charlie. After he’d changed, Royal had stopped being a dick to him—mostly—so Beau wasn’t even all that concerned that Royal would let something happen to Charlie on purpose. And even if Royal would, he was pretty sure that Eleanor wouldn’t.

Charlie was a lot safer with those two guarding him than with his supposedly dead and definitely bloodthirsty son showing up. Beau had read _’Salem’s Lot_ once. He didn’t have any particular desire to reenact any of the scenes.

They flipped to one of the cable channels and watched a _The Price is Right_ marathon until Archie and Jessamine came back just before dawn.

Carine was still upstairs making phone calls, so Earnest, Beau, and Edythe heard what the scouts had to say.

Archie was practically humming with energy while Jessamine stood stoically beside him. “We smelled him,” he said. “At least, we’re pretty sure it’s a male. His scent isn’t very strong, but it’s all over town. My guess is he changes into new clothes often, either off the rack or off a human.”

“He’s definitely trying to disguise his scent,” Jessamine added. “Which means he knows we’re here and is trying to avoid us.”

Archie’s buzzed head nodded vigorously. “That’s not the weird part, though. His scent, it just . . . stops and starts randomly. It’s like he’s there and then he’s not there, and then he shows up again somewhere else.”

Edythe frowned. “What?”

“You mean like he’s teleporting?” asked Beau.

“Or something.” Archie shrugged.

“This is too weird,” Beau murmured. “What would a teleporting vampire want with my dad?”

Carine came downstairs, and they caught her up.

“Did you have any luck?” Earnest asked her.

She pursed her lips. “Some. I called all the vampires I’m on friendly terms with—those I could get ahold of, anyway. Our Denali cousins didn’t know of any others like us, although it could be a nomad who hasn’t run into any of us yet, and I could be wrong in my guess that he doesn’t drink human blood. No one else seemed to have any idea who a vampire in this area might be. Although with this new information you’ve gathered tonight, maybe someone will think of something more.” Carine gave Archie and Jessamine each an encouraging squeeze on their shoulders. “Good work, you two. Why don’t you go back into town and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. I’ll go make some more phone calls. Maybe between all of us we can find something more to go on. If this vampire is indeed avoiding us while he insists on staying in our territory, I’d like to know why.”

“What about Charlie?” Edythe asked. “He’ll be waking up soon.”

Carine turned to Archie. “Do you see him going to the Quileutes?”

Archie threw his hands up in annoyance. “No. But I wouldn’t. My visions are a big black hole where the wolves are concerned. But I _think_ he’d go there. Bonnie’s his best friend. It makes sense.”

Slowly, Carine nodded. “I’ll call Eleanor.”


	6. Chapter 6

When Charlie’s alarm went off, he got up, showered, got dressed, and headed down to make coffee, all without thinking very much about anything. Charlie was never quite right until he got that first cup of coffee but today he was feeling unusually sluggish. As he stood in the kitchen drinking it, trying not to make too much noise and wake Bella, his gaze landed on a fallen picture frame in the hallway and the events of last night came back to him in a rush.

He swore loudly, dropped the coffee cup in the sink so loudly it chipped the mug, and ran upstairs as fast as his middle-aged legs could carry him.

Bella’s bed wasn’t just empty, it looked like it hadn’t been slept in for days. Rage coursed through him. If Edward Cullen thought Charlie would let him keep seeing Bella after this, he had another think coming. No matter how much Charlie admired and respected the boy’s parents, there were some things a father just couldn’t tolerate.

His anger was so great that he didn’t notice that the usually purple bedspread was blue or that the handful of clothes that weren’t boxed up were too large to belong to a girl Bella’s size.

Charlie charged back downstairs, strapped on his sidearm, and picked up the phone. He dialed Edward’s number. No answer. He dialed again, then again. The boy was dodging his calls.

An angry growl slipped through Charlie’s clenched teeth. What had that boy done with her? He threw on his jacket, grabbed his keys, and flung open the front door.

Two young people were standing on his porch, but they weren’t Edward and Bella. One was a tall and obscenely handsome young man with long blond hair, and the other was a beautiful young woman who matched Charlie in height and looked like she could toss him over one shoulder.

“Hi,” said the young woman, flashing a cheerful smile as she and the man stood blocking Charlie’s exit.

Recalling the strange visit he’d received last night from the extended Cullens, he figured this must have been more of them. They certainly had that same . . . _look_ about them.

He didn’t have time for this. “Where’s Edward?” he growled.

The young man seemed amused. With a small smirk, he crossed his arms and asked, “Why?”

“Because I’m gonna kill him, right after he tells me where Bella is.”

The young man’s smirk grew, but he didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, no can do,” said the young woman.

Charlie tried to shove past them, but it was like trying to squeeze between two granite pillars. “And why’s that?”

“Because there is no Edward. Or Bella.”

Okay, that was enough of that. Charlie stepped back a pace, pulled his gun, and pointed it between them. “Get out of my way now.”

“Smooth, Eleanor,” said the young man, who still just looked amused and hadn’t twitched a muscle at having a gun pointed at him. “That was well played.”

“Crap,” said the young woman.

Neither of them had gotten out of his way yet.

They were calling his bluff. Damn it. Charlie wasn’t going to kill some kids in his own house just for being brats. He holstered his gun and took out his handcuffs. “That’s it, you’re under arrest.” He only had one pair on him, but he hoped this threat would be enough. He wanted to get out there and find Bella, not waste his morning booking a couple kids for trespassing.

The kids didn’t even blink. He didn’t have it in him to lay hands on a woman unless absolutely necessary, so he grabbed the young man by the arm, attempting to twist him around to put the cuffs on. The arm felt like a steel bar and had just as much give. “What the hell?” he muttered. The young man just stood there with his arms crossed as if Charlie’s attempt to move him was no more forceful than a light breeze.

The young woman held her hands up placatingly. “Hey, Charlie, why don’t we just all go inside, okay.” Without waiting for an answer, she and the young man walked forward, and Charlie was forced back inside his own house. Once inside, the young man closed the door behind them and they all stood there in the entryway.

“I don’t know who you kids are, but if you don’t leave right now, you’re going to be in serious trouble.” He was using his best cop voice but it had no effect at all.

“I’m Royal,” said the young man. He nodded to the woman. “This is Eleanor. And you’re not going anywhere until Carine gets here.”

_Carine_. That woman who came over last night and called herself Dr. Cullen. Charlie tried to remember what had happened during that visit. They’d talked, they’d told him he had a son and not a daughter, he’d seen the doctored photograph, he’d got up to leave to find Bella, and then . . . nothing.

A tendril of fear snaked through Charlie’s chest. “What have you people done with Bella?” he asked, unable to keep the waver out of his voice. “What are you planning to do to me?”

Royal and Eleanor didn’t answer. They just kept watching him. One minute later, the door opened and the woman called Carine entered with that other girl at her side. The one she’d brought last night. Edythe.

“Has he contacted anyone else?” Carine asked in a soft voice. Her eyes were on Charlie, but her question clearly wasn’t meant for him.

Royal shook his head.

Carine stepped toward Charlie and gave him an extremely pleasant smile. She was one of the most gorgeous women he’d seen in his life, and he couldn’t deny her resemblance to the Cullens. That made him want to trust her, but he was too old to be so easily swayed by a pretty face. “Charlie,” she said in a voice like sunshine and honey, “let’s sit down and talk.”

The presence of the two tall and disturbingly immovable young people at the door made it clear that wasn’t really a request. He sat in the same chair he’d sat in last night, and she took the same spot on the couch. “We’re sitting,” he said. “Talk.”

Carine leaned toward him, her hands folded. “You indicated that you know my family, the Cullens. Would you mind telling me about them?”

“Why? You know them too.”

“Please. Humor me.”

Charlie glanced at Royal and Eleanor and decided to humor her. “Moved to town a few years ago. Don’t socialize much, but they’re well liked anyway. Dr. Cullen—Dr. _Carlisle_ Cullen, I mean—works at the hospital in town even though he could make a lot more at one of those fancy, big city hospitals. He and his wife have some teenagers they’ve adopted who all go to school with Bella. The youngest is Edward. They started seeing each other, and it seemed fine at first. I figured he came from a good family and seemed to make Bella happy. Then she went out with him one night for some kind of family baseball game, came home angry as a nest of hornets, and drove off to Phoenix where she fell down some stairs, crashed through a window, and damn near died. She comes home with her foot in a cast and suddenly she’s made up with the boy like nothing happened. I let them go to prom because he promised to bring her home by curfew. That was yesterday.”

Carine simply nodded thoughtfully but Edythe’s eyes had gone wide several times as Charlie spoke.

“I see,” said Carine. “And the other teenagers, could you describe them?”

Charlie shrugged. “Don’t know them much. There’s the big one: Emmett, I think. A little short-haired girl named Alice. I like her. Then the two blond twins with a different last name, Rosalie and Jasper.”

Edythe’s eyes were wide and staying that way. Even Carine’s eyebrows had crept up at the descriptions. That was weird. Why’d they be surprised at descriptions of their own relatives?

“And you’re certain you don’t know any of us?” said Carine, gesturing to herself and the others in the room.

“Never seen you before last night.”

Carine switched tacks. “Can you tell me about last night? What happened after Bella and Edward left for the prom but before you called and spoke to Edythe?”

What did that have to do with anything? Charlie frowned, but his guards still weren’t moving an inch, so he answered. “Not much. I stayed home. Watched the game.”

“You can’t think of anything unusual that happened?”

Charlie shrugged. “Not really. I fell asleep in front of the TV and missed the final score.”

Carine stroked her chin. “You fell asleep. Hmm.”

“ _Hmm_ what?”

“I’d like you to come with us, Charlie,” she said. “We won’t make you. If you want, we’ll leave, and you can go and search for Bella.”

“I do want.” His words came out gruff, almost a grunt.

“Carine—” Edythe started, but Carine ignored her.

The older (but still quite young) woman stood. “Very well. If, after you look for Bella, you decide to talk to us again, please come here.” She wrote a note on a business card. “This is our home address. If you come, please call ahead at the number I wrote there.”

Charlie took it dubiously.

Edythe whispered something in Carine’s ear so softly that Charlie couldn’t make any of it out. A hurt expression flitted over Carine’s face, then smoothed out. “We haven’t taken or hurt Bella, Charlie,” she assured him. “We mean you no harm either. Truly, we only want to help. When you decide you want our help, let us know.”

Then she left. The other three cast some uncertain glances between the door and Charlie, but they too left without another word.


	7. Chapter 7

The morning was crisp, but it felt warm to Jasper. It wasn’t that vampires couldn’t detect heat or coldness, it simply made no impression. Gave no discomfort either way. He was as comfortable on the glaciers of Alaska as he had been in the southern deserts. So he noted the cool bite in the air with only the very peripheral part of his brain.

The scent, though. That had his attention.

“He’s been here,” Jasper said in a low voice. “Recently.”

Perched beside him on the roof of a fishing hut, Alice sniffed. He waited as she parsed out the scents, digging through the overwhelming odor of fish and sea. Her eyes sprang wide. “He still is.”

Her head snapped to the side, and Jasper followed her gaze to where the beach met the tree line and a mile down the shore. There, in the shadows, he could just make out a figure.

They were off and running in less than a second, their feet barely making marks in the sand. The figure didn’t wait for them but fled into the forest.

One hundred feet into the forest, Jasper paused and sniffed the air. Alice did the same. “Which way?” she asked, her brow pinched in consternation.

After a moment, he pointed. “South.”

They lost the scent three more times as they ran through the trees but managed to find it again each time. Jasper felt sure they were closing in.

The forest opened, and they slid to a stop inches from the edge of a ravine. Trees and shrubbery lined the sides, giving way to dirt and rock just before a sharp, terminal drop. All it did was make Jasper and Alice pause to look around them.

A laugh echoed in the ravine, full of life and humor. Jasper looked up. The figure was standing in one of the tall pine trees, on a thick branch which stretched out over the ravine. The vampire was tall and looked like he may have been around thirty when he was changed. He wore clean but haphazard clothing: tan cargo pants, red t-shirt, rain jacket, and leather boots. His light brown hair was curly and fell in layers to his shoulders. Coal black eyes peered at them between bunches of pine needles.

Jasper tensed to launch himself across the ravine, but Alice put a hand on his arm, holding him back.

“I’m Alice Cullen,” she called to the stranger. “This is Jasper.”

“I know,” said the vampire.

“Who are you?”

He only laughed. He kept laughing a little too long.

“He’s mad,” Jasper said softly enough that only Alice heard it.

She called again to the stranger. “We’d appreciate if you left this area and didn’t hunt here.”

“Didn’t come here to hunt,” the vampire said.

Jasper exchanged a sidelong look with Alice. “Then why are you here?” she asked.

The vampire smiled. “Not just yet, Alice. Not just yet.”

And then he vanished.

Into thin air.

Even Jasper’s vampire sight hadn’t been able to track the stranger’s exit, but it was completely impossible that he could blink away. Wasn’t it?

“Where’d he go?” Jasper murmured.

Alice’s eyes glazed over as she searched her vision. “I . . . I don’t know.”


	8. Chapter 8

Charlie woke up with a splitting headache. Pressing a hand to his forehead, trying to block the light coming through his bedroom curtains, he wondered how much he’d had to drink. It wasn’t like him to get drunk. He hadn’t really done it since . . . since Renee left him.

He pushed that unpleasant memory aside and grabbed the alarm clock on the bedside table. Ten a.m. He dragged himself into a sitting position, noticing as he did so that he was still fully-dressed. This was embarrassing. More than embarrassing. Why had he drunk so much? What was Beau gonna say when . . .

Oh.

That was why.

Grief crashed against him, pushing him back down toward the bed, but he refused to give in. Maybe Beau didn’t need him anymore. Maybe Renee didn’t either. But damn it, someone did. He had a whole town to look after. And he couldn’t do that if he lay here moping over what he’s lost all week.

With the practiced rhythm of many years, he shucked off the wrinkled suit, took a shower, and got himself ready for the day. He tried very hard to ignore how empty Beau’s room was, how there wasn’t any food but what Charlie scrounged up himself, and how lonely his squad car looked out in the driveway.

It was too hard to stay inside longer than he had to, so Charlie decided to eat at the diner.

“Morning, Charlie,” said a friendly-looking black woman as she approached the booth Charlie had just sat down in. “Late breakfast or early lunch?”

Charlie hesitated, trying to figure out if he knew the waitress. He was pretty sure he didn’t, but the woman seemed to know him. “Um . . . early lunch, I guess.”

The waitress smiled like everything was coming up puppies and roses. If she knew who Charlie was, then she’d probably heard about Beau, but she wasn’t saying anything or trying to look sympathetic. Not that Charlie wanted anyone to. He actually liked that she didn’t. He never knew what to do with sympathy from strangers.

Funny how _not_ talking about Beau had made Charlie think of him just the same.

“The usual, then?” the waitress asked.

“Um, yeah. Sure.”

“Coffee?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

She went off to give his lunch order to the cook.

“That was weird,” Charlie muttered.

As he sat there drinking his coffee, Charlie was greeted by a few more people he didn’t know. He started watching his fellow customers more closely. In the time it took him to wait for, get, and eat his lunch, he didn’t see a single person he knew. There were some who seemed familiar, like maybe he should know them somehow or maybe they resembled someone he knew, and there were a lot of strangers, but not a single person he could definitely say he recognized, much less put a name to.

Something strange was going on. Forks was a small town, and he knew almost everyone in it. The occasional passer-through or new resident wasn’t unusual, but he’d never seen so many strangers here at once. And it creeped him out how many of them seemed to know him.

After lunch, he drove around in his squad car, patrolling the area and looking for trouble. He didn’t find any, but he also didn’t see anyone he knew. Every single person on the street was a stranger. He’d almost pulled a car over the first time he saw one that he recognized being driven by someone he didn’t, until he realized that every car was like that.

“What the hell is going on?” he wondered aloud.

He was driving by Newton’s Outfitters, so he stopped in to grab a stick of jerky and a pop from the cooler near the counter. He took out his wallet, and the teen boy behind the counter gave him a smile.

“Hey, Chief Swan.”

Charlie looked more closely at the boy. Stranger. He glanced around the store. “Where’s McKayla?”

The boy gave him an odd look. “Who?”

“The Newton girl.”

“Um, there is no Newton girl?” said the boy, his confusion making it a question. “Just my parents and me. Um, I thought you knew that.”

Charlie put his money down. “And who are you?”

“Mike. I’m Mike. You know . . . um . . . Bella’s friend.”

 _Bella_. Charlie had forgotten about those two kids who broke into his house last night and tried to make a fool of him. That’s what had started off all the drinking. Anger flared, and it must have shown on his face because “Mike” took a step back. What kind of delinquents think it’s fun to mock a grieving father? This kid must have been in on it too. But why?

With a wordless growl, Charlie grabbed his jerky and pop and walked out of the store.

His anger made the grief flare up again, and by the end of his shift he was emotionally exhausted and confused as all hell. Why hadn’t he seen a single familiar face in town all day? When he got home, he picked up the phone and called Bonnie. He needed a friend, someone to talk to, and she was the one person left that he knew he could count on.

“Hello?” a male voice answered.

Charlie swallowed. Was Bonnie seeing someone? It sounded like this was a bad time. “Never mind. I can call back.”

Before he could hang up, the voice said, “Charlie? What’s up?”

“Who is this?”

“What do you mean who is this? It’s Billy. You called me.”

Charlie stared at a spot on the wall as reality seemed to swirl around him. “I . . . I called Bonnie,” he said in a voice that was slowly leaking life.

“Bonnie? Who’s Bonnie? Charlie, are you okay?” An edge suddenly came to the man’s voice. “Did Bella come home all right after the prom?”

Charlie dropped the phone. This wasn’t a prank. Something was wrong.

Fear coiled inside his belly. Beau was gone. Bonnie wasn’t. She couldn’t be. Had that man done something to her?

Charlie went outside, got back in his car, and headed for La Push.


	9. Chapter 9

Even though he’d searched all day, Charlie hadn’t found any sign of Bella.

That wasn’t the weird part.

He’d called the parents of all of her friends that he knew about to see if any of them knew where she’d gone after the prom.

The weird part was that none of them seemed to exist.

There was a Mr. and Mrs. Newton, but it wasn’t the Mr. and Mrs. Newton he knew, even though they owned the store he was familiar with. There was a Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, but again, different people. It was extremely bizarre.

Charlie Swan was not a man who liked _bizarre_.

When he went home that evening, he found Billy’s truck waiting in the driveway. Some of the tightness in his shoulders lifted. Good. He could talk this through with Billy. Maybe he’d have some idea what’s going on. He parked the squad car as the truck doors opened, got out, and turned to greet Billy.

Except it wasn’t Billy getting out of the car. It was a woman. Two, actually: an older woman and a girl around Bella’s age but much taller. The girl helped the woman out of the truck and into a wheelchair.

“What the hell?” Charlie said to himself and leaned against the door of the squad car, watching their approach.

They both wore strange expressions. The girl’s face was closed, her mouth a thin line, like she was trying to hide what she was feeling. The older woman smiled sympathetically at him but her eyes had an edge of anger to them. “Charlie, you’re out. Good. That’s good.”

“I was,” he said noncommittally. “Just got back.” Which was obvious, since they’d been sitting here waiting for him. His first impulse was to ask who they were, but he’d gotten several strange reactions already today by doing that. This time, he figured he’d play along and see what happened.

“I brought some of Holly’s fish fry,” said the woman, holding up the bag in her lap.

Charlie didn’t know who Holly was, but he could smell the fish fry from here, and it smelled delicious. “Sounds good,” he answered.

When they reached him, he moved to go inside and the girl pushed the woman along right beside him without question or hesitation.

“How are you today?” the woman asked. The question seemed to mean more than a polite greeting, but he couldn’t tell what.

_Confused. Kinda pissed._ But he didn’t say that. “Just fine.”

He unlocked the front door and went in. Still they followed without even pausing.

The woman seemed to take his answer as a brush-off. “Right. Right. Julie, how about you get this fish on some plates, then we can all watch the game.”

The girl didn’t look up, didn’t meet their eyes, just took the bag and went to the kitchen.

“She all right?” Charlie asked.

The woman sighed. “She will be, in time. I think she cared for Beau even more than she knew.” That gleam of anger was back.

_Beau_. The strange Cullens had said that name. Charlie’s nonexistent son, who’d supposedly died.

Peering into the kitchen, Charlie watched the girl, Julie. She sure seemed like someone who’d lost someone. Now that he was looking, he could see the grief under the mask she wore.

Whoever Beau was, he’d apparently been real enough to her.

The three of them sat around, ate dinner, and watched the game. Charlie didn’t say much. Neither did Julie. The woman made a little meaningless small talk about the game, and Charlie had the strong suspicion that she was trying to keep things light and cheer him up.

The fish fry tasted exactly like Harry Clearwater’s.

By the time they left, he still hadn’t caught the woman’s name and didn’t know why they thought they knew him, but the woman acted like he was an old friend.

She acted, in fact, an awful lot like Billy.


	10. Chapter 10

“Dad, you’re overreacting,” Jacob said, but Billy wasn’t listening.

His dad was on the phone. “Yes, do it now.” Billy hung up with a loud clack.

“This is ridiculous. I’m sure Bella’s fine.” Jacob wasn’t sure, though. Not quite. Billy’s mistrust of the Cullens was stupid and embarrassing, and Jacob didn’t think Edward would do anything to hurt Bella. But why had the line gone dead after Billy asked Charlie about her?

Even if there was something wrong, Jacob didn’t know what Billy thought that creep Sam Uley could do about it.

Billy wheeled toward the front door with purpose. “Get your coat, Jacob.”

“Why?”

“We’re going to Charlie’s?”

“What? Dad, come on. Did Charlie even say anything was wrong?”

“He was acting strangely.”

Jacob stood in front of the door, preventing Billy from going out. He didn’t want to go off on some wild goose chase, and he really didn’t want to show up at Bella’s house, charging in like the cavalry, only for her to be perfectly fine. She’d think they were more nuts than she probably already did. “You asked Sam to do something, right? Why don’t you just wait to hear back from him first?”

Billy stared at Jacob for several seconds as he considered it. Then he let out a puff of displeasure and wheeled back away from the door. “Fine. But stay ready. If Sam says there’s a problem, we leave immediately, got it?”

Jacob nodded.

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the front door. No, not just a knock. Someone was pounding. Billy headed to the door, but Jacob got there first and pulled it open.

It was Charlie.

He looked angry.

Scary angry.

The relief on Billy’s face was short-lived. “Charlie. What’s wrong?”

Charlie didn’t come in. His gaze took them both in, then slipped past them into the house as if he was looking for something. “Where are they?” His voice was rough and strained.

“They?” Billy repeated.

“Bonnie and Julie.”

Jacob exchanged a glance with his dad. “Um . . . who?”

Charlie’s brown eyes came back to them, sweeping over Jacob, lingering on Billy’s wheelchair. “What is this?”

“What is what?” Billy asked. “Charlie, are you okay? Is Bella okay?”

Ignoring him, Charlie walked into the room. He proceeded to stride from room to room before coming back to confront Billy and Jacob. “Who are you and what have you done with them?”

That took a second for Billy to respond to. “Who are we? Did you hit your head or something? I’m Billy. We’ve been friends since we were kids.”

Billy’s words did the opposite of help. Something wild flashed in Charlie’s eyes. He reached to the holster at his hip, pulled his pistol, and pointed it at Billy’s face. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’d better tell me right the hell now what you’ve done with Bonnie and Julie Black.”

Okay, Jacob had to admit, something was definitely wrong.


	11. Chapter 11

After a full night of not really getting anywhere in finding the strange vampire, Edward had been forced to tell Bella about it if only to keep her from trying to leave the house. She couldn’t have escaped from them, of course, but it was easier all around if she stayed put without having to be physically restrained.

Not that she didn’t still complain about it.

“It’s bad enough my dad’s having some sort of mental breakdown, and now there’s some strange vampire in town? I should be with him.”

“He doesn’t know you,” Edward said calmly. “Remember what happened last time he saw you? Let me refresh your memory. He pulled his gun on you.”

She leaned back into the couch cushion and folded her arms. “He didn’t actually point it at me.”

Edward shook his head, leaned back beside her, and said nothing.

Bella was wearing a pair of Esme’s jeans and one of her casual blouses. She’d had to roll the pant legs up a bit, but Alice’s clothes were too small, and Rosalie’s were tailored for someone with more curves. Besides, they all remembered how Rose had reacted the last time someone suggested letting Bella wear her clothes.

The kitchen was stocked, so Bella kept herself fed as the day wore interminably on. The others called Edward now and then to check up. Alice and Jasper had actually caught up with and spoken to the vampire, then he’d vanished before their eyes. There hadn’t been any trace of him left to indicate where he’d gone; no scent trail, no tracks in the soil. He was just gone.

Which had them all more than a little disconcerted.

After dinner, Edward and Bella went up to his room and listened to music for a while. He could see she was beginning to get sleepy, when extremely troubling sounds came to his ears and he sat bolt upright.

“What is it?” she asked, sleepiness gone.

Before he could think up a lie, Esme opened the door. Her smile was calm as she said, “Bella, could I get your opinion on something?” but her eyes met Edward’s for an instant and she thought, _You’re needed outside. Now._

He excused himself as quickly as he could without arousing Bella’s suspicions and ran downstairs.

He exploded into the yard, then froze when he saw the danger. “Carlisle!” he called to his father, who was standing only a few dozen yards away—surrounded by three enormous wolves.

“It’s all right!” Carlisle said. “Stay calm. We’re not going to fight.” His hands were held out in a calming gesture, but he wasn’t looking away from the big, black wolf.

Emmett, Rosalie, Alice, and Jasper were all here as well, stances ready for a fight.

Carlisle beckoned him closer with a wave of his hand. “Edward, would you please translate for us?” Edward approached, standing beside Carlisle inside the circle of wolves. Carlisle looked into the black wolf’s eyes. “Why have you broken the treaty by coming here?”

The wolf snarled and thought, _Show us Bella Swan_.

Edward blinked in surprise. “They want to see Bella.” He heard the surprise in the thoughts of his family—and an uncomplimentary remark about Bella from Rosalie—but only Carlisle spoke, his voice still calm and steady.

“What does she have to do with you?”

_We aren’t leaving until we see that she’s alive._

Now it was Edward who let out a growl. “They think we’ve killed her. Or changed her.”

“I see,” said Carlisle. “She’s upstairs. You can see her. But you may want to shift out of that form.”

The two smaller wolves looked to the leader in question, but he shook his head.

“He thinks it’s a trick,” Edward translated.

“It’s not,” said Carlisle. “You have my word we won’t attack you. Not unless you attack first.”

The black wolf snorted. _The word of a vampire is nothing._

The existence of the treaty would argue that point, but now wasn’t the time. “He doesn’t believe you.”

Carlisle shrugged. “It’s your secret. She already knows ours. If you don’t mind her knowing about you, that’s none of our concern.”

The two smaller wolves looked uncertain, but the large wolf didn’t waver. _You’re stalling._

“We’re not stalling,” Edward snapped.

“Fine. Fine.” Carlisle raised his voice slightly. “Esme, would you please bring Bella out here?”

Edward glared at the black wolf. “If you hurt her, you will regret it.”

The wolf twitched an ear.


	12. Chapter 12

“Esme, you really don’t need to carry me.”

“It’s no problem, Bella. I don’t mind.”

_That’s . . . really not what I was getting at._ She opened her mouth to say that her foot was broken, not detached, but they were already downstairs.

The night was dark, but light from the house spilled through the full-wall back windows onto the yard beyond. As Esme stepped out onto the grass, Bella could see the other Cullens standing around in tense, defensive postures. She followed their glares to where Edward stood with Carlisle.

Her whole body jerked in surprise and fear, but Esme didn’t drop her. She kept flailing until Esme set her on her feet, one hand still on Bella’s arm to support her.

“Edward, get away!” she shouted. “There are wolves! Giant wolves!” Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she probably sounded ridiculous. Either she was the only one who could see the wolves, in which case she was hallucinating, or she wasn’t, in which case she was stating the blatantly obvious.

In an instant, Edward was at her side. “Bella, calm down. I know.” His cold, firm hand on her arm reassured her, and she clung to him.

“What are they?” she whispered.

“Wolves,” he said.

His smart-aleck response and accompanying smirk drew her attention to him and a spark of irritation surfaced above her terror. She realized she was being stupid. Even if there were giant wolves, it wasn’t like they could be a match for even one of the vampires, let alone all of them.

But then the big black one started walking toward her, and she stiffened anyway.

One of the other wolves came alongside the black one, but it was coming faster, as if it wanted to beat the black wolf to her. Then, mid-step, that wolf changed, and it wasn’t walking on four feet anymore but two.

“Sam, stop,” said the young man, stepping to put himself in front of the black wolf. “She’s obviously fine. Don’t start something we can’t finish.”

The black wolf flattened its ears at the young man, its hackles rising, and the young man flinched. “Yeah, well, that’s not my fault,” the young man said as if the wolf had spoken. “Anyway, it’s out of the bag now.”

The wolf still didn’t look happy, but the young man turned and kept walking to Bella. The black wolf didn’t follow.

The young man looked about Bella’s age. He had brown skin and dark hair like Jacob, and he was tall. And really fit. And really naked.

Bella felt her face heat and was aware that she was staring but couldn’t seem to pry her eyes away.

_Oh. So that’s what that looks like._

From somewhere to her right, she heard Jasper snort a soft laugh. Beside her, Edward stiffened.

Pretty soon the naked guy was standing in front of her, and she had to almost physically forced her eyes to his face. He was wearing a knowing, kind, and sort of cocky smirk. He lifted one hand and gently brushed Bella’s blushing cheek with his finger. “Oh yeah, she’s still human.”

“Satisfied?” Edward asked through gritted teeth.

Another young man stepped up beside the first. Bella jumped; she hadn’t even seen him approach. He looked a lot like the first guy, nakedness and all, but he was taller and a few years older. With another start, Bella realized she’d met him before, that day at the beach.

The taller guy was giving her such a cold, analytical stare that she instinctively lowered her eyes.

It wasn’t a bad view.

“Hey,” said the first guy, drawing Bella’s attention. “Don’t mind him. I’m Paul, this is Sam, that back there’s Jared.” He jerked a finger over his shoulder, toward the only wolf now standing near the trees.

“We’ve met,” Sam said, his voice hard. He stared at her for a few more seconds, then let out a breath. “Shit.” He crossed his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to one foot. Bella couldn’t help being a little distracted by the way his muscles moved under his skin. “Billy’s not gonna be happy about this.”

“Billy?” Bella asked. “Billy Black? What’s he have to do with anything?”

“Billy’s one of the tribal elders,” Edward told her. “The wolves are Quileutes.”

“Ohhh,” Bella breathed. “So you’re, like, shapeshifters? Werewolves?”

“Pretty much,” said Paul.

“Is Jacob a werewolf?”

The two naked Quileutes shared a glance. “No,” Sam said in a way that didn’t sound quite like a definite denial.

The other Cullens had walked over to join them by this point, and the remaining wolf drew closer too. He didn’t turn into a man, but knowing he was one inside helped Bella to not find him so frightening. Even though he was huge, there was something beautiful about him as well.

Not that they were anything less than beautiful in their human forms. Her eyes flicked unintentionally across Sam and Paul’s bodies.

Somehow, they were actually a bit more frightening as humans.

“Billy sent you?” Carlisle asked Sam.

It was weird how no one else was paying much attention to the fact that the two guys were naked. Except for Edward, who was still stiff and teeth-clenchy beside her. Then again, all the Cullens were far older than her. Old enough—and, she thought, maybe inhuman enough—that nudity simply wasn’t shocking anymore.

Sam nodded. “He said he’d spoken to Charlie, that something was wrong. Billy figured it must have had to do with Bella.”

“We know there’s something wrong with him,” Carlisle said, “though we haven’t been able to figure out what.”

At Sam’s questioning look, Edward explained. “When I brought Bella home on prom night, Charlie was there. He didn’t recognize her.”

“What?” Sam hissed.

“Suffice it to say, this isn’t a simple problem,” Carlisle said. “We should meet with Billy. He’s Charlie’s best friend. Maybe he can provide some insight. We’ll be happy to share what we know. Believe us, Sam, we had nothing to do with whatever’s happening with Charlie. We want to help him as much as you do.”

Sam looked skeptical, but he nodded. “We’ll convey your offer to him.” He walked away, shifting into the big, black wolf without breaking stride.

Paul gave them all a nod, then tossed a semi-reassuring smile at Bella. “We’ll be in touch.”

They watched the wolves disappear back into the forest.

Bella shook her head. “Werewolves?”

Esme chuckled and put her arm around Bella. “Let’s go inside. You should get off that foot.”

Alice and Esme went inside with Bella. Thankfully, they let her walk on her own, though they stayed by her sides to help her along.

“Is anyone gonna explain the werewolf thing to me?” Bella asked.

“Tomorrow,” Esme assured her. “For now, you should get some rest.”

Bella glanced over her shoulder. Rosalie and the guys were still outside, talking. “So . . . those guys were, like, really naked.”

Alice let out a little giggle, and Esme smiled knowingly.

“Are they usually . . . that big?” Bella whispered. She tried to be as quiet as she could, but she got the feeling the others could all hear her anyway.

Alice laughed softly. “I don’t know if it’s a wolf thing or a Quileute thing or a good gene pool thing, but . . . no, not usually.”

“Mm,” Esme intoned. It was a high, unimpressed note that made Bella wonder things about Carlisle that she really did not want to be wondering.

“Will you stop?!” Edward yelled at them from outside. He yelled it loud enough that Bella could hear him clearly from inside the house. She glanced out the full-wall window to see him giving her an irate look. Rosalie and Emmett were laughing, Jasper was smirking but not looking at her, and Carlisle had his face in his palm.

Alice laughed louder, and Bella muttered, “Forget I asked. Please.”

 


	13. Chapter 13

Beau sat in Edythe’s room with her pressed against his side. The house didn’t have an extra room to be his, and it was sort of an unspoken assumption that he’d be sharing hers once they were married. They weren’t sharing it yet—even vampires were allowed to be old-fashioned in some ways—but it wasn’t like Beau actually needed a place to sleep or keep his stuff. Since his change had happened without warning, he hadn’t had a chance to retrieve any of his possessions from Charlie’s house.

“Are we sure about this?” he asked. Despite what he’d said earlier, he wasn’t all that certain when it came down to it.

She tightened her hand around his. “We’re running out of options.”

“What if I hurt him?”

“We’re all here. We’ll stop you.”

“What did Archie see?”

“Too many possibilities to be sure of any one of them. All he knows is that you’re not _planning_ to hurt Charlie, but we all know that.”

He heard an engine on the long driveway and tensed. The sound stopped, and footsteps approached the house.

“Edythe?”

A knock sounded on the front door.

“Yes, Beau?”

The latch clicked, and the front door opened.

Beau squeezed Edythe’s hand and didn’t let go. “I’m scared.”

 

* * *

 

 

Charlie sat in the Cullen house. It was . . . really white. Floors, walls, furniture—practically everything was white or pale grey, even the armchair he was sitting in.

“How did the search for Bella go?” Carine asked. She sat across from him on a couch, her family surrounding her like birds clustered on a tree branch. Charlie had met most of them already, except the little guy with the buzzed head and Carine’s husband. His eyes kept going back to the little guy, who stood behind where the blonde girl sat on the couch, leaning on in a casual, half-assed semi-seated position. Something about him reminded Charlie of Alice.

“I didn’t find her,” Charlie admitted. “Looked all over town. No one I talked to knew who she was.”

“I see.” Carine’s expression was sympathetic. It was the kind of expression a therapist might wear.

“Weird thing was,” Charlie continued, “I didn’t see anyone I know. The whole town’s full of strangers.”

Carine cocked her head. Earnest leaned forward and asked, “You didn’t recognize _anybody_?”

“Not a one. Then I came home and I thought my friend Billy was waiting for me, since his truck was in the driveway. But it wasn’t Billy.”

“Bonnie,” Carine said.

“Is that her name? Never did catch it. She had a girl with her, too. Julie.”

“Her daughter,” Earnest supplied. “You didn’t recognize them?”

“Nope. They sure seemed to know me, though.”

Earnest shared a concerned look with Carine, who drew in a breath. “Charlie,” she said, “Bonnie is one of your best friends. You’ve known her since you were children.”

“Nope,” he said again. “I’ve known Billy Black since we were kids, and Harry Clearwater. Don’t know a Bonnie.”

“You mean Holly Clearwater,” Carine said.

Charlie narrowed his eyes, looking from one to the other of them. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on here, and I don’t need to know. I just want it fixed. Do you know how to do that or not?”

“To be honest, Charlie,” Carine said, “no, we don’t. Not for certain. But there are things we can try. It depends on what the cause of this is. The most rational reason for what you’re experiencing is that the trauma of Beau’s death has caused your brain to . . . compensate. To protect itself—to protect your mental well-being—by pretending that Beau never existed. If this is the case, then the delusion your brain has come up with also swapped everyone else you know with . . . different versions of those people.”

“You think I’m crazy,” Charlie said flatly. _This_ was their idea of help?

“I didn’t say that’s what we think is happening,” Carine said. “Merely that it’s the most rational explanation. As such, it makes sense to attempt to rule it out first.”

“How?”

“By removing the cause of the trauma.”

Charlie blinked at her. “What does that mean?”

More glances were exchanged before Carine continued. None of them looked very happy about what she was going to say. “If this happened because of Beau’s death, then maybe it would help you to know that Beau . . . isn’t actually dead.”

Charlie blinked again. “Huh?”

“It’s true,” said a voice. A young man was descending the staircase. He was tall and lean with messy brown hair. “I’m sorry, Dad. It’s true.”

Curiosity drew Charlie to his feet and toward the young man. So this was the Beau everyone kept mentioning. His supposed son. Who’d . . . faked his own death? The memory of Julie’s face flashed in his mind, and he scowled. “Young man, I don’t know why you’re letting everyone think you’re dead, but I hope it’s worth it, ’cause you’ve caused some people a lot of pain.”

The boy blinked in surprise, his eyes filling with tears. “I know, Charlie,” he said in a weak voice, like he didn’t have enough air in his lungs. “I’m really sorry.”

Charlie moved closer, and the Cullens moved with him, gathering around the two of them.

“Do you recognize him?” Carine asked softly.

“Yeah,” Charlie said. “Sorta. He’s that kid in the doctored photo. Doesn’t look quite the same, though.” In the photo, he’d had Renee’s eyes. They didn’t look quite like hers anymore. More purple than blue now.

As Charlie watched the boy’s tear-filled eyes, the purple dissolved. Charlie staggered back a step from the boy, whose eyes were now a hungry, evil red. “What the hell?” Charlie’s heart leapt into his throat, adrenaline spiking.

Faster than blinking, faster than thought, the boy’s teeth were in Charlie’s neck.

 

* * *

There was no family. There was no father. There was only hot, delicious blood. It was the most amazing thing in the world. Better than any food he’d ever eaten as a human. He couldn’t imagine anything being better than this, not even sex.

A hand grabbed him, but he pushed it away. Then two hands, three, six, and he opened his mouth, releasing his grip on his victim to snap at his new foes, but in the instant he did, his prey was pulled across the room and out the door. He snarled, straining against the hands holding him.

Then he felt his anger dampening, and her face was before him.

“Edythe,” he murmured.

He came back to himself—mostly. Charlie’s blood was in his mouth. He swallowed it. Licked it from his lips. “Charlie,” he moaned. “Edythe, what have I done?”

“It’s not your fault,” she said, caressing his face, stroking his hair.

“Why didn’t you stop me?” he cried.

“We tried,” Eleanor said from behind him. She and two of the others—Jessamine and Royal, he guessed—were still holding him. “You’re stronger than us for now, and it’s been a while since any of us fought a newborn.” There was shame in her voice, which in itself was troubling.

There was a person-sized hole in one of the few interior walls, through which Carine was stepping. Her clothing was torn and dusty, but she herself wasn’t hurt. “This is my fault,” she said. Beau could hear the anger in her voice. His actions had brought strange, frightening things out in the others. “I misjudged the situation. I didn’t expect Beau’s contacts to dissolve so quickly. Once Charlie saw his red eyes, fear was a natural reaction, and in such close proximity, the predator instinct—especially in a newborn—is all but impossible to resist.”

“It wasn’t just that.” Beau’s voice was somewhere between a whine and a moan. An animal sound made into words. “He smelled so good. Better than Bonnie.”

Carine nodded sadly. “I’ve heard that one’s family members often smell better than other humans. Something else I should have considered.” She shook her head, furious at herself. “Take him upstairs. Keep him there.”

Beau slumped in the others’ iron grips. “Charlie. I didn’t . . . Did I . . .” But then he heard the scream of agony from outside. Pain beyond measure. His father’s voice, unrecognizable.

“Archie and Earnest got him away before you killed him,” Carine said. “We’ll need to bring him inside before anyone hears. Then I’ll . . . tend to him.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger and then nothing, guys. I didn't mean to leave it hanging for so long, but you know how December can get.

Jacob had never heard Charlie scream before—wouldn’t have thought the man capable of it, actually—but he was screaming now. No, more than that. He was raving.

They’d already tried to explain that they didn’t know any Bonnie or Julie, that there was no one in their family by either of those names. Charlie had only forced them further into the room and shut the front door behind them all. They were trapped alone with him, with no way to call anyone for help. Sure, technically, they outnumbered him, but that didn’t mean much when one of them was in a wheelchair and Charlie had a gun.

“Charlie, please, you need to calm down,” Billy said for the twentieth time.

Charlie was pacing, agitated, gun still firmly in hand. His eyes were wild and bloodshot, his brown hair a mess from how he kept pulling at it. Jacob watched him like a hawk, trying to figure out what he should do, how he could possibly subdue Charlie without letting his dad get hurt or hurting his dad’s best friend. Why Charlie was acting so crazy wasn’t really relevant right now—not as long as the gun was in his hand.

“Nothing’s right,” Charlie muttered as he paced in the small living room. “Nobody’s right.” He spun and leveled the gun at Billy’s head. “Why aren’t you Bonnie?!”

That was it. Charlie had totally snapped, and Jacob couldn’t stand here and let anyone point a weapon at his dad like that. He lunged for Charlie, one hand reaching for the gun. Startled, Charlie half-turned toward him. The gun went off.

A sensation tore through Jacob’s body. For a second, he thought he’d been shot. But it wasn’t pain. It wasn’t anything he could name. He felt his body change. He saw claws in front of him. He heard a deep, rumbling growl. He saw Charlie fall back, eyes wilder than ever, and saw the gun’s muzzle flash.

Now, _that_ was pain. He grunted and heard a whimper. His dad was shouting. Charlie scrambled back, trying to put the couch between himself and Jacob. He fired twice more, but the shots went wide, impacting in the wall behind Jacob. With a  growl of annoyance, Jacob leapt over the couch, swatted the gun out of Charlie’s hand, and tackled him to the floor.

Ignoring the pain in his ribs, Jacob lay on Charlie, holding him down with the weight of his body. Charlie stopped screaming and started struggling for breath.

Only once the threat was contained did Jacob see that where his hands were planted on Charlie’s shoulders there were huge, brown-furred paws. He cocked his head and gradually became aware of the rest of his body: the long, furry muzzle between his eyes; the tail he twitched in agitation; the torso that shouldn’t have been heavy enough to nearly cut off Charlie’s ability to breathe but somehow was.

Shocked, Jacob looked to his father. Billy didn’t seem all that surprised. He had the gun in his lap and held a calming hand out to Jacob. “It’s okay, son,” he said. “Stay calm. This isn’t unexpected.”

Billy’s mouth kept moving, but Jacob couldn’t concentrate on the words. He was too startled by another voice, this one inside his head. _Who are you?_ it said. The voice sounded, crazily, like Sam Uley. _We can sense you. We know you’re in pain. Who are you?_

Jacob didn’t know what else to do. What does anyone do when the world explodes into chaos and nonsense? _I’m Jacob_ , he answered.

_Why are you hurt, Jacob?_

_I . . . I think Charlie shot me._

There was a long, considering pause. Charlie was still struggling to breathe, so Jacob shifted some of his weight off of him. Finally, the voice said, _We’re already on our way to your house._

 _Who’s we?_ asked Jacob.

 _Sam_ , said the voice.

 _And Jared_ , said another voice that Jacob recognized.

 _And Paul_ , said a third voice.

Great. Charlie had gone insane, Jacob had turned into some kind of monster, and now three jerks were in his head.

He sensed a ripple of amusement. It sounded . . . smelled . . . tasted . . . like it came from Paul.

What the ever-loving fuck was going on?


	15. Chapter 15

Bella had gotten as far as putting on a set of pajamas and wondering why the Cullens kept spare PJs around even though they never slept when she heard someone’s phone ring. Unashamedly, she poked her head out of the bedroom door and just had time to decide the ringing was coming from Carlisle’s study when it stopped and she heard him say, “Hello?” A pause, then, “What?” The surprise and worry in Carlisle’s voice sent a chill up the back of Bella’s neck. She padded down the hallway. Alice and Edward both appeared in other doorways, but neither tried to stop her from listening.

She arrived at the doorway and looked into the study. Carlisle stood so quickly she barely saw the movement. “I’m coming.” He listened, his brow creasing. “Billy, don’t be a fool. I’m a doctor; I can help.”

Bella’s heart started racing. Who needed a doctor? Jacob? Carlisle looked at her but his expression didn’t change.

“Your wolves have already trespassed on our land tonight,” Carlisle said without heat. “Why don’t we call a truce so we can sort all this out?” There was another pause, then Carlisle looked at Bella again, more intently this time. “Yes, I can bring her. We’ll leave immediately.” He ended the call.

“You’re not going alone,” Edward said from right behind Bella, making her jump. He and Alice had snuck up behind her without making a sound.

“No,” Carlisle agreed. “Edward and Jasper, you’ll come with us.”

When Bella looked again, Jasper was standing next to Alice. She’d learned by now to stop questioning how they did that.

“Bella,” Carlisle said, “do you mind taking a trip to the reservation with us?”

“No, I want to go,” she assured him.

He gave her a small smile. “I thought you might. We’ll leave as soon as you get dressed.”

They took Carlisle’s Mercedes. Even though Bella had known on an intellectual level that _all_ the Cullens drove like cats on fire, it still surprised her when the calm, caring patriarch, he of the superhuman self-control, slammed the pedal to the floor and kept their speed hovering around 100 all the way to La Push. Maybe there was something of the 23-year-old guy left in Carlisle after all.

There were already two vehicles in Billy’s driveway when they pulled into it. One was Billy’s truck. Bella started when she saw the other. “That’s Charlie’s car!”

“Whatever you see,” Carlisle told her, “try to stay calm.” He gave Jasper a meaningful look and then gave Edward one which Bella knew accompanied some unspoken remark. Edward slid out of the car, then took her hand to help her out—and didn’t let go of it.

So that was how it was going to be.

The porch light was on, not that anyone besides Bella needed it. They were about ten feet away from the front door when it opened and Billy came out with Paul right behind him. Billy’s eyes were soft (if disappointed) for Bella, but they hardened when he took in the vampires. “I didn’t say you could bring others.”

Carlisle opened his hands in a peaceful gesture. “We’re still one fewer than the wolves. It seemed fair to me.”

Billy pursed his lips but nodded after a moment.

Carlisle took an old-fashioned black medical bag from Jasper. “Now, can I see my patients?”

Patients? Plural? Bella’s eyes darted to Charlie’s car and she squeezed Edward’s stone-cold hand in fear.

Billy and Paul went back inside, followed by Bella and the Cullens.

The Black living room was cramped and crowded. Behind Paul and Billy, Bella saw Sam and another hot shirtless guy. Jared, Bella guessed. They were standing in front of Charlie, who was tied to a wooden dining room chair. “Charlie!” Bella moved toward him, but Edward’s unyielding grip on her hand jerked her back.

“Easy,” Edward murmured.

Charlie looked horrible. His face was shiny with sweat, and his eyes weren’t focusing on anything.

“What’s wrong with him?” Bella asked, looking to Carlisle only to see that Carlisle was focused on a different patient. She let out a small shriek, then instantly covered her mouth with her hand. A giant wolf lay on the floor behind the couch. Carlisle knelt over the wolf with Paul and Billy right there with him. Sam moved from his position near Charlie to kneel next to the wolf. “Is that . . .” Bella started, but they weren’t listening to her.

“It was only one bullet?” Carlisle asked. He prodded gently at the wolf’s flesh with his hand, and the wolf twitched away from him, its lips curling.

“Yes,” said Edward.

The wolf huffed in surprise, its eyes darting to Edward.

“It’s all right, Jacob,” Carlisle said, laying his hand on the wolf’s side. Looking at Billy, he said, “The bullet is still inside him. His body’s trying to heal around it. I’ll need to reopen the wound to get it out.”

Billy was still scowling but nodded.

Carlisle withdrew a scalpel from his medical bag. “I’ll make this quick.” Faster than Bella’s eyes could follow, Carlisle stuck the wolf with the scalpel, reached his long fingers into the hole, and pulled out a small hunk of metal. Jacob barely had time to growl in pain before it was over. Carlisle passed the bullet to Sam, then wiped his hands off on a towel. “He should be fine. You should get him to transform if you can. It’ll help him heal faster.” No one thanked Carlisle, but it didn’t look like he’d expected them to. He stood and went to Charlie.

Edward moved closer so Bella could get a look at her dad, but he didn’t release her hand, holding her far enough away for Carlisle to work.

“What happened?” Carlisle asked. He pulled a pen light from his bag and pointed it into Charlie’s eyes.

Billy wheeled closer. “He showed up on my porch with his pistol drawn, ranting about someone named Bonnie Black. Wanted to know where she and Julie are and wouldn’t believe me when I told him we don’t know anyone by those names.”

“Hmm,” Carlisle hummed as he took Charlie’s pulse.

“You don’t sound surprised,” Billy said, eyes narrowing.

“I’m not,” Carlisle said. “We’ve been trying to figure out what’s wrong with Charlie all day. Edward, please tell Billy what happened when you took Bella home last night.”

Edward told Billy and the wolves what had happened, leaving nothing out. Bella was surprised they were being so open with the Quileutes, considering the intense suspicion and distrust they got in return.

“And what have you found out so far?” Billy asked when Edward finished.

Carlisle stood, done with his examination. “There’s another vampire in the area, though he doesn’t seem to be hunting humans.”

Sam, Jared, and Paul all stiffened visibly, muscles tensing for a fight.

“He’s not one of us,” Carlisle said pointedly. “We’d ask him to leave if we could, but he’s been doing a good job of avoiding us. Jasper and Alice caught up with him once, but he hardly said anything before vanishing into thin air.”

“How could he do that?” Sam asked.

Carlisle shrugged. “Some vampires have unique gifts beyond the usual range of vampire capabilities, such as Edward’s ability to hear thoughts. I assume this stranger has some sort of teleportation ability.”

“If there’s another vampire in the area, we should have smelled him by now,” said Sam.

“If he’s as good at avoiding you as he is us,” Carlisle said with a frown, “then I _really_ hope he isn’t in town to hunt.”

Billy and the wolves scowled at this, but at the moment Bella was more concerned with Charlie. She took a half-step toward him. His gaze snapped to her as he jerked back.

“What’s wrong with my dad?” she asked.

“He appears to be suffering from acute stress disorder,” Carlisle said.

“What’s that mean?”

“He’s in shock. We need to get him somewhere safe where he can be seen to.”

“If you think we’re going to let him take him home with you, you can forget it,” said Sam.

Edward stiffened. “Considering how he reacted to Billy and Jacob, you can’t seriously mean to keep him here.”

Carlisle nodded considering. “He seems to react the worst to people he should know best, which means it’s also a bad idea to send him home and let Bella look after him.”

Sam crossed his arms. “What, then?”

“Obviously,” said Carlisle, “the best thing to do would be to take him to Forks Hospital. The staff there will make sure he’s given the best care possible, I can keep a close eye on him, and you won’t have to worry about him being surrounded by vampires.”

“Okay,” said Billy, “but I want to send Paul to keep an eye on him.” From Billy’s tone, by _him_ he seemed to mean _you_.

Carlisle showed no sign of catching the implication. “If you’re willing to extend this truce a little longer, I have no problem with that.”

Billy and Sam agreed to this.

A deep groan came from behind the couch, and a six-foot-seven, brown-skinned, long-haired god stood up, one hand pressed against his rippling side-abs. The back of the couch wasn’t quite high enough to preserve his modesty, and Bella found her eyes straying to all sorts of interesting and completely inappropriate places.

“Ugh,” moaned the naked god. “Someone please tell me I’m having a nightmare.”

“Holy crow,” Bella said—or tried to. What actually came out of her mouth was a series of inarticulate mumbling sounds.

“For once, I think I’m glad I can’t read your mind,” Edward muttered. He sounded like he was scowling, but Bella didn’t take her eyes off the naked god long enough to see.

“I’m afraid not, Jacob,” Carlisle said in his _everything is perfectly normal_ voice as he took a blanket off the back of an armchair and passed it over.

“Jacob?” Bella blurted. Her eyes snapped to his face. He looked like Jacob’s older, much sexier brother.

His eyes met hers, and for a brief moment, he smiled. It was Jacob’s smile. “Oh, hi, Bella.” Then he realized he was naked, let out an embarrassed yelp, and hastily wrapped the blanket around his waist.

“Jacob?” Bella said again. Seeing him as a wolf was one thing, but she’d expected him to look like himself again when he was human. This was a whole different type of transformation.

“Um, yeah,” he said. “I think so. Why?” He looked around at the others in the room. “Did everyone suddenly get shorter? And . . . did I really turn into a monster? And were you guys talking about vampires?”

“No, yes, and yes,” said Sam. “We’re werewolves. Now you’re one too. The Cullens are vampires, which you’d already know if you’d paid attention to the old stories.”

Jacob glanced from Edward to Carlisle to Jasper skeptically. “Vampires? Seriously?”

“Seriously,” said Edward.

“That’s what that stink is,” said Jared.

 Jacob sniffed the air, then wrinkled his nose. “Huh.”

Billy wheeled over to Jacob, looking him up and down with a strange mix of concern and pride. “You were supposed to be eased into this. The change usually takes several months, with this . . . growth spurt happening mostly before you actually become a wolf for the first time. Looks like the stress of Charlie’s visit made everything happen at once. How do you feel?”

Jacob considered this, looking down at his own body. “I feel great. Amazing. This is . . . Wow, this is really cool.”

Paul slapped him on the back. “I know, right?”

“We’ll fill you in on the rest,” Sam said, “ _after_ the Cullens leave.”

“Yes,” said Carlisle, taking the not-so-subtle hint. “We’d better get Charlie to the hospital.” He motioned to Jasper, who made sure Charlie’s hands and feet were bound, then picked him up like a child. Charlie struggled, but that didn’t seem to bother Jasper at all.

The vampires and Bella made for the door, but before they got there, Jacob said, “Hey, doc.” They stopped and turned to him. Jacob was poking at his ribs with his fingers. “You took that bullet out of me?”

Carlisle nodded.

“Thanks.”

“Of course,” Carlisle said with a warm smile. “I’m always happy to help.”

They went to the car and got in, Bella riding shotgun with Charlie between Paul and Jasper in the back seat and Edward squeezed in beside his brother. Charlie had put up a jerky, reflexive protest, but he’d quickly withdrawn back into dazed shock.

“He doesn’t recognize any of us,” Bella said. It was still hard to believe. “What if . . . I mean . . . Maybe Mom could get through to him.”

Carlisle glanced over at her. “Do you think so?”

“It couldn’t hurt to try, right? If he doesn’t recognize me or Billy, she’s kind of the only one left. If he doesn’t recognize _her_ , then . . .” _Then he may be too far gone to get back._ She shuddered.

After a few seconds, Carlisle said, “If he reacts as badly to her as he did to you and Billy, it could set any recovery back even further. But . . . at this point, I can’t think of anything better to try.”

Bella took out her phone and dialed her mom’s number. It was really late, but this was really important. As briefly and concisely as she could, she explained the problem—without mentioning vampires, werewolves, or Charlie shooting someone, of course.

Renee was flighty and scatterbrained, but Bella knew she still cared about Charlie, even if she didn’t love him anymore. So Bella was relieved but not surprised when Renee said, “I’ll be on the next flight out.”


End file.
